What is a HEART ATTACK and what is the Treatment.

A heart attack is a medical emergency. If you have symptoms of a heart attack, seek immediate medical help.
A heart attack is usually known as a myocardial infarction. It occurs when low blood flow causes the heart to starve for oxygen. Heart muscle dies or becomes permanently damaged.
Most heart attacks are caused by a blood clot that blocks one of the coronary arteries. The coronary arteries bring blood and oxygen to the heart. If the blood flow is blocked, the heart starves for oxygen and heart cells die.
A clot most often forms in a coronary artery that has become narrow because of the build-up of a substance called plaque along the artery walls. Sometimes, the plaque cracks and triggers a blood clot to form. Sometimes a heart attack can be caused by sudden stress.
It is difficult to estimate exactly how common heart attacks are because as many as 200,000 to 300,000 people in the United States die each year before medical help is sought. It is estimated that approximately 1 million patients visit the hospital each year with a heart attack. About 1 out of every 5 deaths are due to a heart attack.
Risk factors for heart attack and coronary artery disease are many. Bad genes, hereditary factors, getting old, smoking, high blood pressure, too much fat in your diet, and unhealthy cholesterol levels. Particularly if you especially high LDL, the "bad" one.
Chest pain is a major symptom of heart attack. However, some people may have little or no chest pain, especially the elderly and those with diabetes. This is called a silent heart attack. The pain may be felt in only one part of the body or move from your chest to your arms, shoulder, neck, teeth, jaw, belly area, or back.
The pain can be severe or mild. It can feel like squeezing or heavy pressure or a tight band around the chest. Or it could feel like something heavy sitting on your chest. And it can feel like bad indigestion.
Pain usually lasts longer than 20 minutes. Rest or a medicine called nitroglycerine does not completely relieve the pain of a heart attack.
Some other symptoms of a heart attack include shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, anxiety, and fainting. You can feel dizzy or light-headed. You may have palpitations where you feel like your heart if beating too fast. You can have extreme sweating.
The health care provider will perform a physical exam and listen to your chest using a stethoscope. The doctor may hear abnormal sounds in your lungs or other abnormal sounds such as a heart murmur. You may have a rapid pulse. Your blood pressure may normal, or high or low.
You may have a rapid pulse. Blood pressure may be normal, high, or low.
Blood tests can help show if you have substances produced by heart tissue damage or a high risk for heart attack.

TREATMENT: If you had a heart attack, you will need to stay in the hospital, possibly in the intensive care unit (ICU). You will be hooked up to an ECG machine, so the health care team can look at how your heart is beating. Life-threatening arrhythmias or irregular heart beats are the leading cause of death in the first few hours of a heart attack. The health care team will give you oxygen, even if your blood oxygen levels are normal. This is done so that your body tissues have easy access to oxygen, so your heart doesn't have to work as hard.
An intravenous line (IV) will be placed into one of your veins. Medicines and fluids pass through this IV. You may need a tube inserted into your bladder (urinary catheter) so that doctors can see how much fluid your body gets rid of. Depending on the results of the ECG, certain patients may be given blood thinners within 12 hours of when they first felt the chest pain. This is called thrombolytic therapy. The medicine is first given through an IV. Blood thinners taken by mouth may be prescribed later to prevent clots from forming.
Outlook or Prognosis
How well you do after a heart attack depends on the amount and location of damaged tissue. Your outcome is worse if the heart attack caused damage to the signaling system that tells the heart to contract. About a third of heart attacks are deadly. If you live 2 hours after an attack, you are likely to survive, but you may have complications. Those who do not have complications may fully recover. Usually a person who has had a heart attack can slowly go back to normal activities, including sexual activity.

When to Contact a Medical Professional
Immediately call your local emergency number (such as 911) or go to the hospital emergency room if you have symptoms of a heart attack.
Prevention To prevent a heart attack:
Keep your blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol under control. Don't smoke. Consider drinking 1 to 2 glasses of alcohol or wine each day. Moderate amounts of alcohol may reduce your risk of cardiovascular problems. However, drinking larger amounts does more harm than good.
Eat a low fat diet rich in fruits and vegetables and low in animal fat.
Eat fish twice a week. Baked or grilled fish is better than fried fish. Frying can destroy some of the benefits.
Exercise daily or several times a week. Walking is a good form of exercise. Talk to your doctor before starting an exercise routine.
Lose weight if you are overweight Consider drinking 1 to 2 glasses of alcohol or wine each day. Moderate amounts of alcohol may reduce your risk of cardiovascular problems. However, drinking larger amounts does more harm than good.
Eat a low fat diet rich in fruits and vegetables and low in animal fat.
Eat fish twice a week. Baked or grilled fish is better than fried fish. Frying can destroy some of the benefits.
Exercise daily or several times a week. Walking is a good form of exercise. Talk to your doctor before starting an exercise routine.
Lose weight if you are overweight.
If you have one or more risk factors for heart disease, talk to your doctor about possibly taking aspirin to help prevent a heart attack. Aspirin therapy (dose 75 mg to 325 mg a day) or a drug called clopidogrel may be prescribed for women at high risk for heart disease. Aspirin therapy is recommended for women over age 65 to prevent heart attack and stroke as long as blood pressure is controlled and the benefit is likely to outweigh the risk of gastrointestinal side effects. Regular use of aspirin is not recommended for healthy women under age 65 to prevent heart attacks.
New guidelines no longer recommend hormone replacement therapy, vitamins E or C, antioxidants, or folic acid to prevent heart disease.
After a heart attack, you will need regular follow-up care to reduce the risk of having a second heart attack. Often, a cardiac rehabilitation program is recommended to help you gradually return to a normal lifestyle. Always follow the exercise, diet, and medication plan prescribed by your doctor.
The information contained here was obtained from the U. S. National Library of Medicine website.

http://www.squidoo.com/vacationcabinrental
Cut and paste the above URL into your browser to find my Squidoo about Renting a Cabin.